Article-feeding machine



0. N. RITCHIE AND H. c. BOYKIN. ARTICLE FEEDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILEII MAY 9, 192i.

Patented Oct. 31, 1922..

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I I I 4 I INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 0. N. RITCHIE AND H. c. BOYKlN. ARTICLE FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9, 192!- 1, ;33311.

Patented Oct. 31, 1922.

2 SHEEIS-SHEET Z.

a w :g

ATTORNEYS OSCAR RITCHIE, F HAMILTQN, AND G.

ASSIGNORS TD 3?. LORILLARI) COlzIlE'illI 0 NEW YORIL NE? JERSEY.

Application filed May 9,

To all whom it wmje/ comer n:

Be it known that we Osman N. RKTCHIE end lilnmzuu'r (1. Bernie, both citizens of the United otzites and residents of Hamilton end Middletou'li respectively in the county of Butler and State of Uhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Article-Feeding Machines, of which the tollowing is a specificationp i our invention relates to a machine for feeding erticles such listings envelopes and the like and more particularly to amachine for feeding such articles from a sour of supply to other apparatus for performing further operations thereon; and has special reference to the provision of an article teed ing machine oi? this type in which the articles are individually selected end automaticelly fed from the source of supply and tie lircred to such other apparatus.

In thepresnt instance our invention coinprohends the provision of a or envelope tending; machine adopted for eii ective cooperation Withe hen opening machine of the type disclosed in the patent to Henderson end Tictz h o. l,'l11,899 oit lfieptember 9,9, 'ltillgused for feeding openingend filling envelopes or bugs with a connnodity such tobacco. lit will he understood, however, that although We have shown our invention as .{MloDilQd .or end zipplied to such .a hog openingn'uichine, that our feeding; machine i not limited to such use our invention havj :i broader utility and being adopted for inn; other articles Where similarlproh c :5 are involved. In thei lling oi? tobacco in containers such as begs, a bag is se lected from o source oi supply and fed to :zppemtus whichreceives, grips and opens llijC booreedr ior filling, after which the is tilled s :th the commodity and sealed. 3 of the ditticulties in the apparatus used or peri'orniiingr these iliuuctions has been in the operation oi? the hog feeding machine in order "for the associated opening, filling" :uid sealing :i; paretus to operate etiiciently,

it is e sential that the hogs be fed to the hog ii eiiiiip apparatus siu ly and in timed relation .th' respect 10. it being; tun

ther e south-ll that the bugs he ted each time withi'int u miss: i

hire to deliver :1 he lilutl at any one time or iilure to \lllYQl such he rs singly or-in- (in ClLlLLll V mu sing he societed zipperei to he thrown out oy iereiziim it heing; ti 7 v o the openin 1921, Serial 1'10.

necessary to co hog feeding activity prior to resuni tith of operation, this necessitating: undue time consumpt on and pre renti 5;: the greatest i uentity production eiliciency of the machine. The tr o; feeding; machine hitherto used has been iound th give unsatisfactory service, such machine at times tailing to teed and deliver a end at other times feeding the bags in multiple instead oi singly. Hand i'feedino' has also been resorted to, this necessitetingfho ever, a highly skilled operative for handling the machine with its concomitant disadvanin ureter increasing the co'stoif op- Our hrention therett'ore coniple hends the prom ion ot' beg 'ifeedinp' in per'gztus which will nibsnintielly untaili deliver the bags c properly timed intervals and which will (,iQll'rQ" ,u :h l) s singly or individually tor proper ii the 7-5 s c b iirijioperetion with associated bug opening apparatus.

stack u n 7 vertical cl' lenient with ezicl'a h: g; n zirre k 41. hut stack up with one sine W l of the stack h t'L ,H ,U j N 711 H oi smaller horizontal {llizllfilSlfiilS as ured in the direction oi hep; length, the bottom oi siu'hsteck. Due to this inevcurete steclcir r lot e puck oi. bags, :1 stock when placed ii, iniig'zizine, the dimensions of which should the large enough to aceniniodete the full horizontal dimension of a hog in not form, shows :1 t iency tor the e to creep and more out of elinenient with respect to one another, presentiu nonuniform conditions tor hag icedii thermore the ho 's used 2 7 provided bottom edge M l all with i of the hit but which s curled or one di 'GLJOU, this being zi characteristic pzirtec i by the hog ineh'in ope tioi cteristic has 7' I to he troublesome in hug feeding} when the bags creep or move out of elinenient in the magazine. The feeding oi such 3 bags in feeding apparatus of the type previously used has been found to be attended with the disadvantages of multiple bag selection and the failure to feed the bags at each interval in properly timed relation. The provision of an apparatus in which the parts are so constructed and so corelated to overcome the prior disadvantages and to secure a machine in which individual bag selection and feeding is eliiciently effected is a prime desidcratum of our invention.

The principal objects of our invention therefore include, besides the provision of an upparat having the characteristics and performing the functions above enumerated the further provision of an apparatus in which the stacked containers or bags are properly guided in the magazine to minimize creeping or disalining of the bags; the further provision of apparatus in which the bags are alined in the magazine to present the bags to the feeding means in the desired condition; the provision of a magazine in which the containers or bags are supported to permit effective individual bag feeding activity; the provision of such a magazine co-operating with the feeding means to accomplish the desired end; the furt-her provision of a feeding means in which the bags are curled to facilitate subsequent open ing thereof and the general provision of an apparatus of this nature of simple construc tion. and capable of accomplishing the desired functions with. a minimum of operative parts. 1 v

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, our invention consists in the elements and their relation one to the other, as hereinafter particularly described and sought to be defined in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which show preferred embodiments of our invention and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of our feeding machine,

Figure 2 is an elevational View in cross section taken on the line 22 of Figure l showing our machine during one stage of its operation.

Figure 3 is a transverse view taken in cross section along the line Figure 2, and

Figured is a view in cross section with parts broken away showing the machine in a different stage of operation.

Referringto the drawings, the operative parts of the feeding machine are supported on a standard 10, which may comprise a casting, a main drive shaft 11 being supported in journals 12 in said casting, the said shaft 11 carrying a main drive gear 13 and a sprocket wheel 1%. the sprocket wheel 14 receiving motion from any source of power (not shown) by means of the sprocket chain 15. Supported on the standard 10 and fixedly connected thereto is a magazine, generally designated as 16, the said magazine comprising aplurality of verticalplates 17- connected together to form the sidewalls of a magazine shaft or well 18. Thewell 18 is adapted for the reception of a stack of articles to be fed and in the present instance is intended for the reception of a pack or stack of envelopes or bags 19, the said envelopes or bags being of the type in which one side of the open. end thereof is longer than the other side of the said open. end and in which the closed end of the bag is of greater effective thickness than the open end ofthe said bag, the bags for this reason stacking up inthe shaft, as shown for eX- ample in Figure 2 of the drawings, the up-- per bags taking an angular position as shown, with one side wall of the stack higher than the other and with the longitudinal horizontal dimension of the stack being smaller at the top of the stack than at the bottom thereof. 1 c

; It has been necessary to construct a magazine whichwill accommodate the articles to be fed, such asbags or envelopes, and to accommodate such articles in the flat so that the said articles should not be subjected to jamming or sticking when fed through the magazine shaft, the area of the shaft being made for this reason greater than the area of a bag or envelope. With such a construction and with the bags stacking up angularly, as hereinabove referred to, the bags show a tendency to creep and move out of relative alinement,the disalining of the bags having hitherto been one of the elements in preventing single "bag selection and feeding at each required interval. Each bag or en, velope, as hereinabove referred to, is provided at its bottom edge with a curled portion 'such as 20, shown particularly in Figure 4 of the drawings, the said curled portion being a characteristic imparted to the bag during the bag making operations. Such curled edge has been found to offer another disadvantage during the bag feeding operation, such curled edge having previously prevented proper alinement of the bags in the stack when placed in the magazine well, the disaliningofthe bags in connection with such curled edges having prevented the single or individual bag feeding as is essential. e therefore have found it desirable to provide means for minimizing creeping and disalining of the bags and to further provide means for realining the bags so that they are fed under uniform conditions for bag feeding. To this end we first provide the magazine 16 with walls 21 inclined to the opposed walls 22 of the magazine, the incli nation of walls 21 being such as to conform to the inclined wall assumed by the stack of articles 19, as shown particularly in Figure ea e- 111 2 of the. drawings. By these means the dis--v aliningof thebags or'articles is effectively mounted on themagazine plates 17, the shaft being provlded with a gear wheel 26 16CG1V- ing motion from the driving parts of the apparatus, as will further appear hereinafi I ter, the cam 23being arranged to move, in the space between the front wall plates 17,

the said cam beingoperative on the front edges of the bags 19, as shown in Figures to 3 of the drawlngs. Ithas been found-deslrable to provide a plurality ofsuch pact adjusting cam'elements and to arrange such TF9,

cam elements in superposed relation. this end we further provide a second cam 23 fixed to asecond cam shaft 24, the shaft 24,"being mounted in j ournals 25 preferably in the form of plates also connected to .the. front walls 17 of the magazine, the said shaft 24 carrying, the gear wheel 26, which re cei'ves motion from the gear wheel 26 by meansofqan idler 27 journalled in bearings connected to the magazin 16'. adjustingmeans or cams. 23 and 23 ar'e'so contoured asto effect realinement of the bags 19, theicams (being also operative to aid in the gravitational feeding'of the said bags 19 in thGIIlflgfiZlllG shaft, the cams being rotated clockwise, as viewed in Figure 2 and shown by the arrows in said Figure 2, this-motion of the cams aiding in forcing the articles 19' downwardly in the shaft, as will be, clearly apparent; It is desirable that these pact; adjusting elements operate intermittently on the stackfor reasons that will appear fur ther hereina-fter andthe provision of the elements in the form of cams rotatably mounted on the cam shafts is found desirable to 'attain this result. i

' The bags or envelopes 19 are selected one by one from the stack and are'fed to other ap-v paratus shown in the patent hereinabove referredto for opening and filling the bags with material, Means is therefore provided for selecting and feeding thevbaa's individually from the stack, the feeding preferably being" from the bottom of the stack. 'To this end we provide a feedshoe 28 oscillatably mounted on a crank arm 29. the crank arm 29 being: fixed on Shaft 30 iournalled in hearings in the standard 10.

the shaft 30 being provided with wheelsfii and 32 at opposite ends thereof,

The pack the j gear wheel" 3]. meshing with the main drivegear and receiving motion therefrom; The-feed shoe 28 is preferably faced with a material such rubber for the purpose of pi.'-' vidin; a frictional facing to frie-' tionally seiect and feed a bag or envelope 'lr-om the bottom of the stack. The feed.

shoe is held yieldably on the crank" rm,

by means of the spa an element 33.com-

nected to both the shoe and the crank arm. will he appa t, on rota ion of the main shaft ll; ti shaft 30 will be and. the

ed intervals optionally contact with the bottom bag the stack to feed the same forward. I

"it been found desirable to operate the friction feed in such manner that the shoe 28 engage and feed af the oama-Cliusting elements 23 and 2 am been operative on the bags, the feeding: means and the pack adjustina means thus operating alternately on the bags, t .1, corelation of parts being shown, for example, in'Fi e'ure 2 of the drawings withvthe cams in dottedline position and preventing opposite compoi'ients from being operative on a the bags at the same time, this arrangement minimizing any tendency to am or mar the articles or bags in the magazine.

For the purpose of minimizing multiple ban selection by the feeding means, We provide the restraining elements in the form of knivesfi the said knives being mounted on alznife block "a detachably connected to the rear walis 22 of the magazine and mounted on studs tneibloclrs being se cured onthe studs byvmeans of nuts 37. p

.i he knives ing one of the eleinei a in preventing the friction between the i two bottomf to cause 'i'ecdinggof the bag next adjacent to the bottom bag of the stack;

l i e have found that the supportingmeans upon which the stack of bags 19 rest must cooperate with the feeding means and the pack adjusti means to -minimize multiple hag feet ligand to eliminate the mssibility of the feeding-1' means IIll-TSi o a bag; during: theoperation thereof. #To

end we have found it desirable to provide the support 38' of the i'napjazine with op posed tr a elements 39, the bags resting on the :3 ld, track elementsyit. be ing been found des rable to provide such track e e ments with raised portions e0, the raised being; provided adjacent the =5 &1 of the magazine. raised porrionseil are also-cut away as at $2, the disbetween the cut away per-'- tion +52 and, the bout plates of the mag:

, of the front a predetermined feed open to permit only a single bag Wltl'i its curleiil front edge to be A from the magazine. flhe tracks 39 provide thereh-etiveen a space or an opening? throu,

out in o the bag 19, this be The a being provided with gear wheels 46, the

gear WVlIQGlS meshing with and receiving motion from pinions 4'7 mountedofn a shaft carrying rolls 44 cooperating with rolls 4- from idlers 4S meshing with the feed gear wheel 31, the arrangement of the gears beingsuch as to provide for the proper rotation of the gripper wheels 44 and 44 to feed the bags forward for further operation. Meshing with one of the gears 46 is an idler 429, the said-idler meshing in turnwith the gear 26 for imparting mot-ion'to the cam shafts and cam elements-23 and 23 hereinbefore'described.

' Before delivering the feed bags to the opening apparatus hereinbefore referred to ithas been found desirable to effect a transverse curl or bend running longitudinally of each bag, this being desired to facilitate subsequent bag opening operation. The

. bags when delivered to the opening machine are received by "a holder or a pan, means be ing provided such as a spoon adapted to be inserted between the sides of the bag at the open end thereof for the opening of the bag to place the same in conditionready for filling, such means being particularly disclosed in the'patent to Henderson and Tietz hereinabove referred to. It has been found. in practice that when the bag is fed to the supporting pan that if the longitud-inal central portion of the bag does not lie flat against the pan support but is spaced therefrom, that the opening spoon when moved into cooperation with the pan and the bag,' instead of feeding between theop'posite sides of the'bag to open the same, will move between theibag andpan support, thus failingto effect bag opening,

- this in turn causing a subsequent stopping of the machine.

It is desired, in order'to facilitate the opening of the bags by the spoon, to produce or effect a transverse bend or curl in eachbag as it is selectively fedfrom the magazine to the opening machine. By producing the transverse curl in the bag the longitudinal central portion thereof is ironed out and flattened with the side edges of the bag curled upwardly therefrom so that when the bag is received by the pan it lies .on the same with the central part of the bag lying flat against the pan support and the opening spoon will invariably move between the side walls of the bag to effect the opening'thereof. To this end we provide a roller 50 rotatably mounted in bearings 51, the roller being provided. with a central recessed portion 52. Cooperating with theroller 50 and more particularly with the recessed portion 52 thereof is a drum mounted on shaft 54, the shaft being provided with journal blocks 55 movably mounted in recesses 56, the said journal blocks 55 being resiliently mounted in said recesses to permit vertical motion of the drum 53, springs 57 and housings 58 being provided for this purpose. The drum has a width substantially equal to the width of the recessed portion 52 of the roller 50, the cooperation of these elements when receiving a bag from the gripper rolls being operative on the bag to effect a transverse bend or curl therein running longitudinally of the hag, as will be clearly apparent by reference to Figure 4 of the drawings. Fixed to the shaft of the roller 50 are opposed pinions 59' meshing with idlers 60, the idlers meshing in turn with pinions f7 andreceiving mo tion therefrom. The drum shaft 54 is also preferably provided. with pinions 61 meshing with the roller pinions 59. The cooperating roller 50 and drum. 53 receive the bags as they are fed individually from the feeding means and the gripper rolls, and im art a curling effect thereto, as shown in *igure at of the drawings, the bagsafter undergoing the curling operation falling on the guide or chute 62 and thence to the guiding means and bag holder or pan of the bag opening machine hereinbefore .referred to. a j i The operation of our bag feeding ma chine will bein-the main apparent from the above detailed description thereof. The bags-19 are inserted in pack or stack formation from. the side or top of the magazine, the bags stacking up in" the form shown'in Figure 2, the bags being guided by the straight and inclined walls of the magazine to minimize the disalining of the bags in the magazine. Any disalinement that takes :place is corrected by the pack adjusting cams 23 and 23 operating on the front or bottom edges of the bags, these cams aiding and facilitating gravitational bag feeding in the magazine shaft. Feed shoe 28 periodically engages the bottom bagof the stack and feeds the same forward through the magazine opening at]; The pack adjusting or cam means and the feed shoe preferably operate intermittently as described. The magazine support forthe bags is contoured by the provision of a raised portion at the front part thereof to facilitate bag feeding and to eliminate, in

number of combination with the other elements, any possibility of multiple hag feeding, the ele ments being so corelated as to effect single bag feeding suhstantially without a miss. The bags as they are fed forward interinittently and successively by the feed shoes 28 are engaged by the gripper rolls 44: and 44, the bags being conducted or fed by these rollers to the cooperating roller 50 and drum 53 for producing a transverse curl or bend in each bag, after which the bags are moved gravitationally down the chute 62 to the bag opening machine (not shown) for opening and for subsequently filling the bags with a commodity such as tobacco. a

While weihave shown our device in the preferred form, it will be obvious that many changes and modifications may be made in the structure disclosed without "departing from the spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In an article feeding machine, a stationaryvmagazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of articles, means for feeding the articles forwardly individually from the stack and paclcadjusting means operative on, the articles 'in the stack to condition the same for individual feeding, the said packadjusting means being arranged relatively to the magazine so as to'be operative on the front edges of the articles therein and effective for moving or urging the articles rear- Wardly in the stack to cause alining of the opposite edges thereof.

2. In an article feeding machine, a magazineadapted to hold a pack or stack-of articles, means for feeding the articles forwardly individually from the stack and pack-adjusting means operative on the articles in the stack to condition the same for individual feeding, the said pack-adjusting means he ing arranged relative y to the magazine and having a motion relative to the articles in the stack effective for moving the articles rearwardly to aline the opposite edges of the same and for irnovingthe same downwardly to aid in the gravitational feedingoffthe articles towards the said'feeding means,

In an article feeding machine, a maga- Zine adapted to hold stack of articles, means forifeeding the articles one at. a time from the bottom of the stack and movable provisions operative on. a predetermined articles in the stack at the front edges of the same and effective to move or urge the same transversely relatively to and over the articles below the same whereby the articles are separated and alined in the magazine v Iniamachine for feeding articles such a as .ba-gs,1'a stationary magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of the articles, means the front edges of the articles therein and effective to push the latter rearwardly in the stack to aline the front edges of the same in the magazine 5. In a. machine for feeding articles such as bags, a stationary magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of articles, meansfor selectively feeding the articles individually from the bottom of the stack, said feeding means being intermittently operative on the articles to feed the latter successively in timed relation and pack-adjusting means intermittently operative on the stack at the front edges of the articles and effective to push a predetermined number of the articles rearwardly in the stack to aline the front edges of the same in the magazine, saidarticle feeding means and pack-adjusting means being alternately operative on the magazine stack tosecure individual bag selection and, feeding.

6. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of the articles, means for selectively feeding the articles individually from the bottom of the stack and a plurality of superposed independent pack adjusting means operative on the stack atthe front edges of the articles to aline the same in the magazine.

7. In a machine for feeding articles such bags, a magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of the articles, means for selectively feeding the articles individually from the bottom of the stack and pack adjusting cam means operative on the front edges of the articles for urging or pushing the articles rearwardly inthe stack to aline the same in the magazine.

8. In 'a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of bags, frictional meansintermittently operativefor feeding the bags individ ua ly from the bottom of the stack and in,

dependent pack adjusting elements intermittently operative on theforward edges of the for alining the same in the stack and for aiding feeding thereof to the said feeding means, the feeding means and the elements being alternatively operative on the said stack.

9. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine for holding a pack or stack of bags in which one wall of the stack assumes a position inclined to an opposed wall of the stack, the magazine beingprovided with an inclined guide means conforming to said inclined wall of the stack for guiding the same, means for selectively feeding the bags individually from the bots tom of the stack and pack adjusting means operative on the stack to aline the bags in the magazine.

10. In machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine for holding a pack or stack of the articles in which one wall .of thestack assumes a position inclined to an opposed wall of the stack, the magazine be ing provided with an inclined guide means conforming to said inclined wall of the stack for guiding the same and pack adjusting means associated with said magazine and ooerative on the pack to aline the articles :L-liQTQlIl in said magazine.

ll. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine for holding a pack or of the articles in which one wall of the stack assumes a position inclined to an opposed wall of the stack. the magazine being provided with an inclined guide means conforming to said inclined wall of the stack for guiding the same and a plurality of independent pack adjusting cam elements mounted in superposed relation on said magazine and operative on the pack to aline the bags in the magazine.

12. In an article feeding machine, a magazine adapted to hold a stack of articles, means for feedingthe articles one at a time from the stack, means operative on the stack.

for alining the articles therein at one edge thereof and provisions for receiving the articles from the feeding means and operative on the articles for curling the same transversely.

13. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags a magazine for holding a pack or stack of the articles, the magazine being provided with a straight wall and an inclined all opposed thereto, the walls gradually contracting from bottom to top to ac commodate a stack of the articles and means for selectively feeding the articles individually from the bottom of the stack.

14. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine holding a pack or stack of bags, the magazine including a feed open ing and a bottom support for the stacln means for feeding the bags individually from the bottom of the stack, each bottom sag being moved over the support and through the feed opening in the magazine during the feeding operation, the support being provided with a raised portion adjacent the feed opening of the magazine.

15. In a magazine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine holding a pack or stack of bags the magazine including a bottom support for the stack, the said bottom support comprising spaced apart track elements, each track element being provided with a raised portion at the forward part thereof and a feeding means for the bags movable in the space defined by the said track elements. I

16. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine holding a. pack or stack of bags. the magazine including a feed opening and a bottom support for thesiack, means for feeding the bags individually fromthe bottom .of the stack, each bottom bag being moved over the supper and through the feed opening in the zine during the feeding'operation,the support being provided with a raised portion adjacent the feed opening of the magazine and pack adjusting means operative onthe pack to aline the bags in the magazine. said pack adjusting means cooperating with the bag feeding means and the support-to secure individual bag selection and feeding.

17. In a magazine for feeding articles such as bags, a magazine holdingapack or stack of bags, the magazine including bottom support for the stack, the said bottom support comprising spaced apart track elements each track element being provided with a raised portion at the forward part thereof, afeeding means for the bags movable in the space defined by the said track elements and pack adjusting means opera tive on the pack to aline the bags in themagazine, said pack adjusting means cooperating with the bag feeding means and the sup port to secure-individual hag selection and feeding.

18. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags, a stationary magazine adapted to hold a pack or stack of thearticles, means for selectively feeding the articles individually from the bottom of the stack, means for restraining multiple bag selection, pack-adjusting means operative on the stack at the front edges of the articles therein and'etfective for moving or urging the articles rear- .vardly in the stack to cause alining ofthe front edges thereof and means for operating the pack-adjusting means.

19. In a machine for. feeding articles such as bags a magazine holding a pack or stack ofbags, the magazine including a feed opening, and a bottom support for the stack,

for feed the bags individumeans m from the bottom of the stack,

allv eac h bottom bag being moved over the support and through the feed opening in the magazine during the feeding operation, the support being provided with a raised prtion adjacent the feed opening of themagazinc and provisions for receiving the articles from the feeding means and operative 'on the articles for curling the same transverselv.

20. In a machine for feeding articles such as bags a magazine adapted to hold apack or stack of bags, means for selectively feeding the bags individually from the ,bottom of the stack pack adjusting means operative on the stack to aline the bags in the magazine, grip ping means for receiving the bags from the feeding means and provisions receiving the bags from the gripping means and operative on the bags to eitect a trans terse curling therein.

21. In a bag feeding machine provisions for advancing the bags from source of sup ply, and feeding means receiving the bags from said provisions and operative for feeding the same to bag opening mechanism, the said feeding means including elements active on each bag for ironing or flattening the longitudinal central portion thereof and for creasing and bending the side edge portions of the bag upwardly therefrom, whereby subsequent opening of the bags by the bag openingrnechanism is facilitated.

22. In a bag feeding machine, intermittently operative provisions for advancing the bags individually and feeding means re ceiving the bags from said provisions and operative for feeding the same to bag opening mechanism, the said feeding means including superposed rollers active on each bag for ironing or flattening the longitudinal central portion thereof and for creasing and "bending the side edge portion of: the bag upwardly therefromwhereby subsequent opening of the bags by the opening mechanism is facilitated.

23. in a machine for feeding bags feed ing means for feeding the bags from a source of supply to a bag opening mechanism, the said feeding means comprising provisions operative on the bags for ironing or flat tening the ion itudinal central portion of each bag and tor creasing and bending the side edge portions of: the bag upwardly therefrom whereby subsequent opening of the bags by the bag opening mechanism is itacilitated.

2-4. In the method of feeding bags or envelopes to a bag opening mechanism the step Which consists in ironing out a longitudinal central portion of the bag and increasing and bending the side edge portions of the bag upwardly therefrom, whereby subsequent opening of the same by the bag opening mechanism is facilitated.

' Signed at Middletown, in the county of Butler and State of Ohio, this 3rd day of May A. D. 1921. v

v oscnn N. RITCHIE.

H. C. BOYKIN. 

